Zach Cunningham FG block play at Auburn ‘in a vault’ now that it’s illegal

HOOVER, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference coordinator of football officials reiterated that the probation on leaping over the line-of-scrimmage on field goal attempts is a player safety issue.

Steve, Shaw, who has served for several years with the SEC and was named the NCAA secretary-rules editor for football this summer, emphasized similar points Tuesday at SEC media days that he made during the league’s annual spring meetings in Destin, Florida.

“What happens is you have one of them that made it but 10 or more that don’t,” Shaw said Tuesday. “The ones that don’t are the ones that get tipped over and land on their head or the center lifts up and gets kicked in the head. It’s really just a player safety component. The NFL is addressing it the same way. It’s a great athletic play when it works but when it doesn’t to the leaper and the offensive lineman trying to block him.”

Starting with the 2017 season, the rulebook has in place Rule 9-1-11-6 which states “no defensive player who runs forward from beyond the neutral zone may leap or hurdle in an obvious attempt to block a field goal or (extra point) try.”

“For me, the play is in a vault so hopefully I can go back and cue it up on my DVR and see it from time to time.”

The rule change obviously would have meant the blocked field goal by former Vanderbilt linebacker Zach Cunningham in last season’s 23-16 loss at Auburn would have flagged as illegal starting with this upcoming year.

“Those plays are what makes college football great in my opinion,” Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason said Tuesday. “Here’s the deal, player safety is the spirit of the rule and we have to keep that mind. For me, the play is in a vault so hopefully I can go back and cue it up on my DVR and see it from time to time.”

In the fourth quarter of the 2016 game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Cunningham hurdled over Auburn’s long-snapper and nearly swallowed up a potential game-clinching field goal by kicker Daniel Carlson.

“I noticed the center had a cadence,” Cunningham said after the game. “I went to the sideline and asked Coach if I was able to jump over the center because I noticed he had a cadence. They said do it, so that’s what I decided to do.”

Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said days after the play that his team would start work on that block without saying who the player would be to attempt the leap. However, that statement is obviously no longer the case because the tactic has been determined to be illegal.

“I’m glad we don’t have that play anymore, you know?” Malzahn said. “He made an unbelievable physical play. When he did it you just think something has got to be illegal about it. There was nothing illegal about it. It was just a great play, but I’m glad it’s illegal now.”

The new rule does allow for an exception, which states a hurdle “is not a foul if the player was aligned in a stationary position within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped.”

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